Thoughts, opinions, and ramblings about (broadly) children's literature from my perspectives as a writer, parent, and volunteer elementary school librarian. Plus I post Fibs, Oddaptations and poetry galore, all listed on the right and left hand sides of the blog.

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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

There aren't nearly enough awards given out in the world of children's books to satisfy me. We need MORE. No, not more "best book" awards, since there are many lists. And I'm not just talking new and exciting and highly participatory awards like the Cybils. No, I'm talking things like...

Best Opening LineBest Character NameBest Hidden Gag in a Picture BookFunniest IllustrationBest Joke

And on and on (and please feel free to leave categories in the comments)....

OK, sure... it's like the whole "Best Kiss" on the MTV Movie Awards thing -- it doesn't carry a lot of gravitas. And no, this stuff wouldn't replace the wonderful lists and awards that exist. But if I'm a kid and I see a book with a "best joke" award on it, I'm telling ya... I'm interested.

I love "best page 73"! And the ISBN number is rocking, too. Best Title is great cuz it'll be highly controversial. As a general rule, though, I tend to agree that unpronouncable words with missing vowels don't make for the best titles, ancient words or not.

About Me

I'm a screenwriter, volunteer librarian, dad, and SCBWI member with a love of poetry and picture books.
I'm currently working on a middle grade novel for Arthur A. Levine Books as well as writing Fibs, other poetry, and, over at The Happy Accident, all about social media, too.